Russula ventricosipes

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Russula_ventricosipes.html

Ecology: Presumably mycorrhizal, since it is a Russula--but its odd habitat does raise questions. Growing alone or gregariously in sand dunes; usually with pine trees in the vicinity; along the Great Lakes and the East Coast; summer and fall.

Cap: 4.5-13 cm; convex with a tucked-under margin when young, becoming broadly convex to flat with a shallow depression; slimy when wet and fresh (with sand "glued" to the surface), but soon dry; covered with a felty, pinkish to orangish layer when young, but soon becoming smooth overall, or remaining felty along the margin; yellowish brown, sometimes with orangish shades; the margin lined at maturity; the skin peeling away easily from the margin, sometimes beyond halfway to the center.

Gills: Attached or pulling away from the stem; close; sometimes forked near the stem; yellowish white, developing orangish or reddish edges; often spotting or discoloring yellowish brown to brownish.

Stem: 2-10 cm long; 1.5-5 cm thick; often swollen in the middle; stuffed and thick; sometimes slightly wrinkled lengthwise; white underneath a layer of reddish to brownish red scurf that begins at the base and may extend nearly to the apex.

Flesh: Whitish; becoming slowly pale yellowish on exposure or with age.

Odor and Taste: Odor weakly to moderately reminiscent of maraschino cherries, almonds, or benzaldehyde; taste acrid.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface negative.

Spore Print: Creamy.

Microscopic Features: Spores 7-10 x 4.5-6 ; broadly elliptical to lacrymoid; with very tiny warts projecting less than .5 (appearing nearly smooth even with oil immersion); connecting lines rare and scattered. Pileipellis an interwoven cutis/trichoderm; clearly defined pileocystidia absent, but some hyphal tips cystidioid, with granular, sulphovanillin-positive contents.

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Antrodia juniperina

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Antrodia_juniperina.html

Ecology: Saprobic on the wood of junipers (species of Juniperus), including eastern redcedar, Rocky Mountain juniper, and Utah juniper; causing a brown rot; growing alone or gregariously; perennial; fairly widely distributed in North America, following the distribution of the host trees. The illustrated and described collection is from Missouri.

Cap: Sometimes absent, but when present effused-reflexed, extending 1-3 cm from the tree; whitish to brownish, often with a yellow-brown margin; at first matted-fuzzy but becoming more or less bald with age.

Pore Surface: Distinctive; spreading in resupinate fashion 8-15 cm below the cap and 5-8 cm across; pores when very young or near the margin of the cap slot-like, 1-2 mm wide—but the tubes soon lengthen and appear more or less like long, flat teeth; whitish to yellowish; not bruising; when viewed from a 90-degree angle appearing slot-like overall (like the pores of Daedalea quercina).

Stem: Absent.

Flesh: Very tough; whitish; not changing on exposure.

Odor: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH yellow to brown on flesh and tubes.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 5.5-7.5 x 2.5-3 m; long-ellipsoid; smooth; hyaline in KOH; inamyloid. Basidia 20-25 x 4-5 m; clavate; 4-sterigmate. Cystidia not found. Setae not found. Hyphal system dimitic; generative hyphae 2-4 m thick, thin-walled, smooth, hyaline in KOH, with clamp connections; skeletal hyphae 4-6 m thick, with walls 1-1.5 m thick, smooth, hyaline to golden in KOH.

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Psathyrella spadiceogrisea

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Psathyrella_spadiceogrisea.html

Ecology: Saprobic; growing scattered to gregariously or in small clusters in hardwood or conifer forests, often near woody debris; spring and early summer; apparently widely distributed in North America.

Cap: 2-8 cm; convex, broadly conical, broadly bell-shaped, or nearly flat at maturity; bald; the margin finely lined; medium brown to yellow-brown, fading markedly as it dries out to brownish buff; when young with wisps of veil tissue, especially along the margin.

Gills: Attached to the stem; close or nearly distant; pale brownish to whitish at first, becoming dark brown.

Stem: 4-12 cm long; up to 1 cm thick; equal; fragile; whitish; bald or finely silky; sometimes grooved near the apex; without a ring.

Flesh: Thin; fragile; brownish.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface negative.

Spore Print: Very dark brown with a hint of purple.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6-10 x 3-5.5 ; ellipsoid; with a pore; smooth; dark brown in KOH. Pleurocystidia utriform; thin-walled; to about 50 x 15 . Cheilocystidia utriform; scattered; thin-walled. Sphaeropedunculate elements on gill edge inconspicuous; subglobose, without apical necks. Pileipellis hymeniform/cellular.

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Clavariadelphus lignicola

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Clavariadelphus_lignicola.html

Ecology: Probably saprobic; associated with Engelmann Spruce; growing gregariously in large troops, sometimes in clusters--or merely scattered; currently recorded only from spruce-fir elevations in the Four Corners region (however, the range of Engelmann Spruce extends to the Pacific Northwest, and specimens from this area may have been labeled Clavariadelphus ligula); late summer and fall.

Fruiting Body: 1-3 cm high; about .5 cm wide; narrowly club shaped; surface finely dusted or more or less smooth, becoming wrinkled with age; at first pale yellowish or cream colored, darkening somewhat with age; not bruising; the base attached to copious white mycelium that binds needle duff or woody debris and is often aggregated into tiny whitish strands; flesh whitish, soft.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: Surface negative in KOH; greenish with iron salts.

Spore Print: Pale (precise color not recorded--by me or in the literature).

Microscopic Features: Spores 16-21 x 5-7 ; long-elliptical (reminiscent of bolete spores); smooth.

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Ganoderma lobatum

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Ganoderma_lobatum.html

Ecology: Saprobic; growing alone or gregariously on decaying logs and stumps of various hardwoods; causing a white rot; annual or perennial, lasting for 1-3 years; widely distributed in North America east of the Rocky Mountains; also found in Arizona and in Mexico. The illustrated and described collection is from Michigan.

Cap: 4-10 cm across; 8-14 cm deep; more or less semicircular in outline, or elongated; producing a new cap each year below the last year's cap and confluent with it; surface with a dull, unvarnished outer crust that is soft enough to be punctured with one's thumb, sometimes furrowed in "zones," brownish to grayish brown; bald.

Pore Surface: Whitish to pale brownish; bruising brown; with 4-6 tiny, circular pores per mm; tubes 0.5-1.5 cm deep.

Stem: Absent.

Flesh: Dark brown to cinnamon brown; woody.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH instantly black on cap surface, flesh, and tubes.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6-9 x 4.5-6 m after the collapse of the hyaline vesicular appendix; more or less ellipsoid, with a truncated end; appearing double-walled, with a series of "pillars" between the walls; finely stippled; inamyloid; reddish brown in KOH. Cystidia and setae not found. Hyphal system trimitic. Clamp connections present.

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Paxillus involutus

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Paxillus_involutus.html

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with a wide variety of hardwoods and conifers; apparently also capable of existing as a saprobe on wood; found in woods and in urban settings; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously; summer and fall; widely distributed in North America.

Cap: 4-15 cm; convex to broadly convex with a strongly inrolled, cottony margin; becoming planoconvex or centrally depressed; sticky or dry; smooth or finely hairy; brown to yellow-brown, olive brown, or grayish brown.

Gills: Separable as a layer; running down the stem; close or crowded; often becoming convoluted or pore-like near the stem; yellowish to pale cinnamon or pale olive; bruising brown to reddish brown.

Stem: 2-8 cm long; up to 2 cm thick; often tapered to base; dry; smooth or finely hairy; colored like the cap or paler; bruising brownish to reddish brown.

Flesh: Thick and firm; yellowish; discoloring brown when exposed.

Odor and Taste: Taste acidic or not distinctive; odor not distinctive or somewhat fragrant.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface gray.

Spore Print: Purplish brown to yellow-brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6.5-10 x 5-7 ; smooth; elliptical. Pleuro- and cheilocystidia more or less fusoid; 40-90 long; with brown contents. Pileipellis a cutis of elements 3-6 wide, with brownish contents. Clamp connections present.

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Floccularia albolanaripes

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Floccularia_albolanaripes.html

Ecology: Probably mycorrhizal; usually associated with conifers in the Rocky Mountains, but associated with hardwoods (especially oaks and alders) or conifers on the West Coast; growing alone or scattered; western in distribution; summer and fall in the Rockies; fall and winter on the West Coast.

Cap: 4-12 cm; convex when young, becoming planoconvex or flat; slightly sticky at first but soon dry; adorned with pressed-down fibers (especially over the center); in maturity sometimes with a few small scales; often bright yellow when young but usually soon yellow-brown or brown, at least over the center; the margin usually becoming yellow with age.

Gills: Attached to the stem by a notch, or nearly free from the stem; close; whitish or yellowish.

Stem: 2-8 cm long; up to 2.5 cm thick; more or less equal; whitish and smooth near the apex; sheathed below with shaggy zones of soft scales that are whitish at first but may develop yellowish or brownish tips; sometimes with a poorly defined ring ("the uppermost zone purely by virtue of its position is considered the annulus," says Smith).

Flesh: White or a little yellowish; not changing on exposure.

Taste: Not distinctive; odor not distinctive.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 5-8 x 4-5 ; smooth; elliptical; amyloid.

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Hygrophorus purpurascens

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Hygrophorus_purpurascens.html

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with conifers; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously; late summer and fall (over winter in warmer climates); fairly widely distributed in northern and western North America, and reported from the Appalachian Mountains. The illustrated and described collections are from Colorado and Québec.

Cap: 2.5-8 cm; convex when young, becoming broadly convex or more or less flat; sticky when fresh or wet; with a streaked appearance from stretched-out, pinkish purple, appressed fibers; pinkish red to purplish red, but lighter toward the margin; the margin inrolled when young.

Gills: Attached to the stem or beginning to run down it; close or nearly distant; white when young, becoming somewhat pinkish and developing purplish or reddish spots and discolorations; waxy; when young covered by a whitish, hairy or tissuelike partial veil.

Stem: 3-7 cm long; 1-2 cm thick; equal, or with a tapering base; dry; frequently with a fragile purplish ring or ring zone, but also frequently without evidence of the veil when mature; colored like the cap or a little paler; not discoloring yellowish.

Flesh: White; unchanging; firm.

Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive; taste not distinctive, or slightly bitter.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface erasing purple shades, becoming grayish to yellowish gray.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 5.5-8 x 3-4.5 ; smooth; ellipsoid; hyaline in KOH; inamyloid. Hymenial cystidia absent. Lamellar trama divergent. Pileipellis an ixocutis.

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Cuphophyllus pratensis

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Cuphophyllus_pratensis.html

Ecology: Precise ecological role uncertain (see Lodge and collaborators, http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13225-013-0259-0/fulltext.html" TARGET="new">2013); growing scattered to gregariously in hardwood or conifer forests; late spring through fall (or over winter in warmer climates); widely distributed in North America. The illustrated and described collections come from Illinois, Québec, and California.

Cap: 2-6 cm; convex when young, becoming broadly convex to nearly flat; dry, or slightly tacky when fresh; covered with very tiny, pressed-down fibers (use a hand lens), at least when young--but often more or less bald by maturity; brownish orange, fading to orangish buff; the margin not lined.

Gills: Running slightly down the stem; distant or nearly so; creamy orangish; short-gills frequent; often with cross-veins by maturity.

Stem: 2.5-4.5 cm long; 0.5-1.5 cm thick; fairly equal; bald; dry; creamy orangish to whitish; white at the base.

Flesh: Whitish; unchanging when sliced.

Odor and Taste: Taste not distinctive; odor not distinctive, or slightly foul and unpleasant.

Chemical Reactions: KOH negative on cap surface.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 5-6.5 x 4-5 ; broadly ellipsoid, sublacrymoid, or subglobose; smooth; hyaline in KOH; inamyloid. Basidia 2- and 4-spored; 40-60 long. Hymenial cystidia absent. Lamellar trama interwoven. Pileipellis a cutis.

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Tremellodendron pallidum

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Tremellodendron_schweinitzii.html

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with oaks and possibly with other hardwoods; growing alone or gregariously on the ground, in soil or in moss; spring through late fall; widely distributed east of the Great Plains (also reported from New Mexico and Texas). The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois and Québec.

Fruiting Body: At first a whitish patch of fuzz, developing over a few weeks into a coral-like structure up to 10 cm high and 6 cm wide, with flattened branches arising from fused bases.

Branches: Flattened; bald; dry; whitish to buff when fresh and young, becoming yellowish with age and often developing green shades (from algae) when very old; tips flattened, colored like the branches, becoming somewhat ragged with age.

Flesh: Stringy and very tough; whitish.

Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive; taste slightly bitter.

Chemical Reactions: Iron salts negative on branches.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 7-12 x 4-6 ; allantoid; hyaline in KOH; smooth. Basidia longitudinally cruciate-septate; ovoid to pyriform; to <NOBR>15 x 11 .</NOBR>

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